Drought stress responses in soybean roots and nodules

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Authors

Kunert, Karl J.
Vorster, Barend Juan
Fenta, Berhanu A.
Kibido, Tsholofelo Reineth
Dionisio, Giuseppe
Foyer, Christine H.

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Frontiers Research Foundation

Abstract

Drought is considered to be a major threat to soybean production worldwide and yet our current understanding of the effects of drought on soybean productively is largely based on studies on above-ground traits. Although the roots and root nodules are important sensors of drought, the responses of these crucial organs and their drought tolerance features remain poorly characterized. The symbiotic interaction between soybean and rhizobia facilitates atmospheric nitrogen fixation, a process that provides essential nitrogen to support plant growth and development. Symbiotic nitrogen fixation is important for sustainable agriculture, as it sustains plant growth on nitrogen-poor soils and limits fertilizer use for crop nitrogen nutrition. Recent developments have been made in our understanding of the drought impact on soybean root architecture and nodule traits, as well as underpinning transcriptome, proteome and also emerging metabolome information, with a view to improve the selection of more drought-tolerant soybean cultivars and rhizobia in the future. We conclude that the direct screening of root and nodule traits in the field as well as identification of genes, proteins and also metabolites involved in such traits will be essential in order to gain a better understanding of the regulation of root architecture, bacteroid development and lifespan in relation to drought tolerance in soybean.

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Keywords

Glycine max, Root architecture, Nodule traits, Soybean omics, Water stress

Sustainable Development Goals

Citation

Kunert KJ, Vorster BJ, Fenta BA, Kibido T, Dionisio G and Foyer CH (2016) Drought Stress Responses in Soybean Roots and Nodules. Front. Plant Sci. 7:1015. DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2016.01015.